§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will seek to amend the law to permit local authorities to retain fines levied on people(a) dropping litter and (b) responsible for graffiti. [155439]
§ Mr. Hill[holding answer 26 March 2001]Under the local Public Service Agreement pilot, the DETR has agreed that two local authorities, Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees, can be paid grants equal to the Fixed Penalty Notice (F[...]N) income they collect for litter offences to offset their costs of providing enforcement services. If the pilot trial demonstrates improvements in the levels of cleanliness in these authorities, consideration will be given to extending this provision to other local authorities.
There are no plans at present to make fines income from graffiti cases payable to local authorities: local authorities have the opportunity to apply to the courts for compensation for damage in the usual way.